


Get Down - The Jogging Catatonic

by TheCobraOfHell



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Cannibalism, Gore, Implied Relationships, Mercy Killing, Multi, Murder, Suicide, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2019-01-29 09:33:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12628065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCobraOfHell/pseuds/TheCobraOfHell
Summary: It started off as a mutation of rabies. It came from the mountains and has invaded their home. Now, as person after person succumbs to the horrors of a zombie-like virus, the RFA and minor trio must band together to survive long enough for governmental assistance. Suddenly, the Choi bunker seems much more comfortable.





	1. Belly of the Beast

**Author's Note:**

> Oh look, a zombie AU! Honestly, I've been wanting to write a proper zombie fic for a while, and I've been bingeing more and more zombie material that I just had to do it. This is gonna be a graphic fic, don't hope for any censored death scenes! I've tagged some ships, but there is only references to it and no heavy smut available- sorry guys!

Get Down (Pt. 1)  
Belly of the Beast  
-

“Alright Rickie- let’s see what’s going on with those teeth of yours…” The vet pulls plastic gloves on and gently pries open the beagles mouth. “Ahh- there’s your issue buddy.” 

Yoosung pokes a little closer while the vet pulls out a pocket light from her lab coat, shining it into the dog’s mouth. A glance towards the owner confirms she is a little concerned, but trusts them very well. “Now…” Yoosung focuses back on what the vet is saying. “If you look right here at the molar, right behind the carnassial, that is our problem tooth. What do you think it looks like?”

Yoosung thinks for a moment, observing the tooth a bit more closer. Rickie gives a small whine, but doesn’t move aside from twitching his mouth. “Uhm- there’s swelling in the gum around it, some pus, the root has turned dark… it looks like gum disease…” he manages to guess rather accurately.

The owner lets go of a bated breath, peering at Yoosung a bit harshly. “Well- is that what it is?”

Right next to him, Eunji let’s Rickie close his mouth and nods. “I agree- looks like regular old gum disease. It’s common in older dogs but the right bacteria will do it for ya. Nothing a good cleaning and medication can’t solve.”

“Oh thank goodness- I thought it might’ve been cancer! Rickie’s parents both passed because of it…” The owner holds her beagle tightly, pleased with her diagnoses. 

Eunji nods in understanding. “Don’t worry, I can almost guarantee that it isn’t cancer. I just have to perform an x-ray to confirm it’s gum disease and then we can start treatment, alright?”

Eunji and Yoosung depart when the x-ray technician arrives and rolls Rickie away. In the breakroom, she can’t help herself from grabbing a coffee. Yoosung follows suit. 

“You doing alright today? You don’t seem as chipper as usual,” Yoosung observes, noting that this was the second coffee he’s seen her drink before actually taking a break. 

She nods and yawns. “No, no, I’m perfectly fine. I’m just tired. I got called in last night to an emergency with a doberman. The poor girl just collapsed in front of her owner and started seizing up…”

Yoosung’s brow knit upward in concern. “Oh my god- is she okay?”

Eunji shook her head. “No, I had to put her down.”

“What was it?”

“Rabies.”

.

Vanderwood sighs as a putrid smell hit him directly. “Seven! Dammit I told you to clean up again by the time I got back-!”

“LOL sorry, I totally forgot!” Vanderwood can hear Seven call back out from some random hallway. He shakes his head and manages to shut the front door as he enters, winding between wrappers and empty bags. He passes by the living room where he sees the figure of Saeran poised on the couch, staring at the tv where it’s playing something gorey. 

“How are you, Saeran? Holding up alright?” Vanderwood finds purchase in light conversation. He’s always preferred this Choi, although not any less mischievous, he doesn’t always go out of his way to annoy Vanderwood. 

Saeran holds up a hand in greeting, not really turning to see Vanderwood- probably from laziness. “I’m fine. Watching horror reruns…”

Vanderwood peers closer, making a disgusted expression when one woman’s torso is literally cracked open by the ribcage. “Jesus christ- what the hell are you watching?”

“The Jogging Catatonic. Zombie movie about this group of survivalists trying to… well survive. It’s considered more realistically gory than other zombie films.” Saeran scoops out another spoonful of ice cream and pops it into his mouth. “I like zombie movies.”

Vanderwood grimaces and shakes his head, leaving Saeran to watch his movie. He wanted to ask how the hell he could eat while watching something so disgusting- but he realized then how deeply he wanted to chastise Seven, and left. 

Seven was doing something dumb, perching chips onto the tip of his nose and trying to balance them. “SEVEN!”

The red-head jumps and his chips go flying. “Vandy-!” He whines, putting on the most cringey of puppy dog eyes. “Why would you do that? I almost beat my record…”

“No time for beating records- do that in your free time!” Just as he could tell Seven was about to ask ‘what free time?’, Vanderwood pulled up a chair and continued. “I want updates on the database I gave you- what information do you have and on what people?”

Seven clicks through his computer, pulling up files he’s downloaded from his most recent case. Although his attitude is revolting, Vanderwood himself would admit how dedicated and intelligent of a man that Seven was. In fact- he would go out of his way to say that Seven made him proud in most aspects. Just not in lifestyle…

“Here ya go- all their dirty little secrets~” He’s pulled up their web browser histories, but then pulls beside it the code for banking systems. “They’re totally scheming or some shit, embezzling from the oil companies I think. Did you see the bankruptcy reports?”

Vanderwood nods, holding out his hand to Seven. “Wanna give me the flash drive copy?” 

“Ya- of course…” Seven plops the extra copy into Vanderwood’s palm, turning to start on his next assignment. “Hey- did you hear about India?”

And Vanderwood perks up. “You mean- the outbreak?”

Seven swivels around in his chair. “Eyup, the next big shitfest to happen to India was a viral outbreak. What could happen next?” He makes light of the situation with a perky, television host voice. “We’re on the road to cthulhu, Vanderwood. Any day now…”

Before Seven can even get on that whole rant, Vanderwood pulls out a laptop from his suitcase and starts tapping away. “I’ve actually been really interested in those developments, I thought you’d never ask…”

Vanderwood had always been a medical buff, finding intrigue in how the human body reacted to abnormalities. Occasionally, his interest had actually perturbed Seven at times. Hell, Vanderwood would sometimes go out of his way to do extensive, deep web research on barbaric torture techniques, just to see what actually happened to the human body. 

Of course- he’d never torture someone like that in the flesh, but Seven didn’t doubt that he’d do other forms of research. 

Vanderwood went on a long tangent on how much research he’d done so far on the outbreak at hand, trying to convey how incredibly interesting it _actually_ was. It was similar to the Ebola outbreaks, and there was a theory, only founded in the Indian government, that this particular disease was rooted in a flu virus from the goat farms. 

“So… goat farmers were reported to have it first?” 

“Yeah, but in order to prevent further infection- they cut down goat production and took a lot of farmers into custody for observation…”

Seven actually found himself becoming more interested in what Vanderwood was talking about. Then again, it was also a change of pace to talk to him about something other than his next assignment or what he should be cleaning. 

“If you’re so interested- maybe we should check it out.”

Vanderwood stared back at Seven with unbound curiosity. “Are you serious?”

Seven nods and shot up to his feet. “Well yeah- I haven’t been to India in a couple years, it’d be nice to go back again! Plus, we could do our own research and maybe solve the mystery ourselves~ Can you imagine it?”

“No, I can’t.” Seven droops, but Vanderwood continues, “But I like the idea. I’ve actually been thinking of going there if only for a week to see what was going on first hand. I have the feeling that the government is hiding a lot of information from the rest of the world…”

“I can definitely see it,” Seven quickly agrees, clapping his hands together. “So- what do ya say?”

Vanderwood pauses, frowning a little at the strangely excited expression Seven had. “You buy the tickets.”

.

“Hey, Eunji-!” 

The vet perks up, jumping to her feet and approaching the postal man. After signing a few forms, Yoosung as well gets up, abandoning the fried rice he brought for lunch. “What is it?”

After farewelling the delivery boy, Eunji hands him the package. “The slides from the doberman- a good learning opportunity! Come on-!”

The technician brings her intern into the lab and turns on a microscope. After plopping Yoosung into the seat, she starts opening up the package, asking excitedly, “So- have you looked over what the different viruses look like? The most common ones at least?”

Yoosung gives a firm nod. “Of course! What do you take me for, Eunji?”

She shrugs, opening up the envelope that holds ten different slides. She places one into the microscope and gives a wave of her hand. “Alright then smarty pants, tell me what you see…”

Yoosung scoots forward and peers through the slot. He’d always prided himself on cell observation. He was usually able to differentiate through the several layers and cells but this time- it looked a little chaotic. 

“I see the envelope- a couple of them. With striations of RNP and… the glycoprotein spikes? I think. It does look like rabies but…” Yoosung couldn’t be sure, it looked like a conglomerate of broken cell walls and protein packs. 

Eunji looked into the scope as well- horrified by what she saw. “No, wait. This is, this is definitely rabies virus here but something is off about it. A mutation.”

Yoosung looked at her, brow knitted in concern. When she backed away, still stunned by her discovery, he quietly asked, “Do you think it’s anything to worry about?”

She was still, staring down at the blood sample. After a moment, she shook her head. “No, it’s nothing to fret over.”


	2. A Flu Bug

Get Down (Pt. 2)  
A Flu Bug  
-

Admittedly, Jaehee wished that she had more time to check the chatrooms, let alone actually talk to everyone. Sure, they understood her circumstances, but she still felt incredibly bad for being so absent. Hell, Yoosung was graduating this year AND doing an internship- and here he was logging in everyday and spewing new things that had happened to him during his observations (guys, I got to see a _porcupine_ today!!!!). 

At first, working at the cafe was a blessing. It was less work than what Jumin had pressed onto her, and what work there was- it was fun. She had never thought that work would actually be fun. For a while, it was actually really nice. These last few months had been the hardest though. 

Jaehee could write a list of all the bad things that had happened within the span of a month. Business had gotten unbearably intense, from special orders to grumpy customers, her co-workers were getting more and more annoying with their own complaints and issues, and a horrible flu bug had been going around for these last two weeks. 

Luck was with her on her last point; she hadn’t gotten sick from it yet. But with so many other people getting sick, she was pulling near twelve hour shifts every single day. It was both a blessing and a curse: she could certainly use the money, especially making much less than when she worked for Jumin, but it was also so incredibly tiring. 

“Jaehee-- please help-!” The desperate cry of her co worker shook her back to reality, and she pulled her apron on before running back out to the front. 

Like it’s been for the past week, the place was packed and they were understaffed. Every demographic was there from the hipster college student to the elderly critics. Jaehee could barely hear the orders as she took them, having to just about break that personal bubble for each customer. 

While she took orders, payments, and special requests, her co worker was working on bakery goods and the cold drinks. Jaehee had to take breaks between customers to make the hot drinks and deal with phone calls coming in. When was their manager getting here?!

“Ma’am!” 

It was so hard to hear the customer over the order she was taking, and even then, it wasn’t like she could shrug off the customer she was talking to right in that moment. So could you really blame her?

“MA’AM!”

“And uhm… what is the difference between the americano and your espresso blend?” The older gentleman was clearly not used to ordering at a coffeeshop, perhaps this was even his first time coming here. 

Ordinarily, Jaehee would never be so brutal, but she couldn’t help it at this point. With all of the screaming and the angry customers flowing through their doors, she just wanted to get through this rush. “Americano is espresso and water, our blend is just regular brew, sir. Which would you like.”

She wrote down his order, only to just about jump when her collar was grabbed from the other side of the counter and tugged. Some middle aged woman was just about foaming at the mouth, shaking her foam cup in Jaehee’s face. “I said I wanted soy- not whole milk, do you want me to get a stomach ulcer?! What are you stupid?”

“I am so sorry ma’am, I can remake it for you…”

 

“Of course yeah- your co worker there already remade it for me the first time and still put whole milk into it- how do I know I can trust you?!” The customer continued to test like a distrustful girlfriend. 

What could she even say back to that? “Miss, I’m sorry- I don’t know what you want me to do then, other than remake your drink…”

“How about you remake the drink and give me a refund for my trouble?”

Just as Jaehee was about to explain their policy on refunds, she heard a different woman scream, something along the lines of- ‘he has a knife!’. 

The rest of her day had been a blur, from rushing out of the shop, to calling the police, and being dragged to the station to answer questioning. She got home well after midnight, feeling beyond stiff and fluttery in her nerves. Slowly getting undressed, she tried to recall exactly how her uniform became so bloodstained. God… she wished she could talk to someone…

.

Zen’s lips pulled back into a tight snarl, gaze boring down into the woman he was perched over. She was trembling and giving hard breaths between her weeps, her expression etched in clear fear as she tried to pull away from him. 

In one hand, he held a meat hook, in the other, he was grabbing the collar of her blouse. He pulled her closer despite the struggling in her limbs, letting the curl of the hook trail along the folds of fabric, stalling against the curve of her throat. “Bet you regret it now- signing up to that dating website?” He suggests in a lilt, his grin widening. “You fell for me so willingly… hook, line, and sinker…” 

He raised the hook and brought it down just as a scream ripped through her throat, relishing in the way blood had splashed into his face. Just in that moment, a loud, hacking cough had broke the atmosphere, and someone nearby sighed. 

“CUT!”

Zen perked up, letting go of his co-star and looking over at the camera man. The poor guy was giving pitiful gags into the sleeve of his arm, each hack making him accidentally jerk the camera back and forth. He had been sick for a while, Zen had noticed, but he never wanted to take a break. The man was a hard worker, and Zen respected that- but his lack of rest was catching up to him. 

Valery gave a tired sigh and slowly got up from her position under Zen, brushing off sawdust from her pants and, again, showing the dissatisfaction from having fake blood splattered onto her blouse and hair. “I just wish we could finish this fuckin scene for once- I’m tired of having to clean my hair over and over from this shit…”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have signed up for a slasher film then?” Zen playfully suggests, although also tired of having to get coated in the face with fake blood for the fourth time that day. 

His co-star raises a brow at him. “Oh yea? How else do you expect me to break into film industry? Everyone starts in horror…”

The director speaks with the cameraman for a while, giving him a few tight lipped requests before sending him away. The director calls off the scene, letting actors and other workers take their lunches early. Well- at least he could wash his face off better this time. 

And after doing so, he plopped down in the cafeteria and drank his third energy drink for the day. 

“He has the flu…” He heard someone murmur, the director as he spoke with one of the editors. “I think he’s had it for a while, he just didn’t want to disappoint everyone. I just wish he would have been honest with me.” 

“I understand. Do you think Nathan can help make up for it?”

“Certainly- but making Zen and Valery go over the scene is torture.”

“They’re good though, they’re professionals. They can handle it.”

After their breaks, they go through the scene again, this time with Nathan manning the camera- and the scene took off and finished without a hitch. The next scene was between Valery and her roommate as they tried to escape an abandoned church; Zen found the chance to take a coffee break whilst speaking to the editor from earlier. 

“So… Aiden has the flu?” Zen tests first, wondering when he had gotten so fond of coffee. It had to be since he flew here to film. 

Laura gives a hard nod. “Yeah, I noticed he’d been sick for a couple days, he deserves a day to rest.” Although she had answered properly, her attention is very clearly drawn to the scene being rehearsed, glancing at a clipboard she was holding continuously to make sure everything was going well. 

Zen plays with the coffee mug in his hand, trying to think of something else to ask. Laura was always so uptight, but she also had so many answers. He just had to ask the question. He took a deep breath and probed, “I heard that the flu has been going around for awhile- is it really that bad?”

“Hm?” Laura doesn’t even look at him, thinking over his question and answering blandly, “Yeah, the last two weeks. They say it’s just the usual yearly virus, but since no one’s been getting their vaccinations- it’s been spreading like wildfire. I heard that there was about seventeen people who succumbed to it on Sunday…”

“What?! Seventeen in one day?” Zen asked back, blasphemous. 

“Yup. Of course, I think it’s just fudged numbers to get people to spend money on those useless medicines…” Laura theorizes, shaking her head when Valery stumbles over her words. “Besides, it’s just kids and old people- they’re more susceptible to it…”

Despite her explanation, Zen can’t help but be horrified at the thought. He tried not to think about it too much as he got back into character, ready to get more buckets of blood dumped onto him. 

.

Jumin took another sip of wine, watching as the burgundy liquid sloshed around in its glass. It was rather hypnotizing; he kind of liked being this drunk. It was pleasant, not too disorienting, and he could find pleasure in small things such as the color of his wine. 

Or the jovial way the man on his computer screen laughed. 

He would consider it one of the closest manners of kinship he’d acquired. 

“Jumin--! You look paler than usual-! The wine getting to you?”

Jumin’s grin widened, and he actually laughed along with the other man. “Mmm perhaps it has.” Despite his admission, he takes another sip of wine and watches as Aarav eats his own sparse lunch. “Another late night for you, Aarav?” 

The man perks up, looking through the webcam, almost directly at Jumin. “Ahh, yes- always a late night…” After taking a bite from whatever he was eating (Jumin just couldn’t tell from this angle), he asks with a bit more jovial murmur, “do you like coconut, Jumin?”

Jumin raises a brow and shrugs. “I suppose yes- I wouldn’t say I go out of my way to taste it, but I appreciate it well enough…”

“You should try Sol Kadhi- very good after dinner drink. I used to favor my mother’s, always better than the vendors. Do you ever notice that?”

“Yes, home-made is always better…”

Jumin glanced at the time on his desk top, a little horrified to see that it was approaching midnight. It’s not like he had something to go home to, being so wrapped up in business and such, but it was approaching nine at night for Aarav…

“Shouldn’t you be getting sleep, Aarav?” he tries asking with genuine concern, suddenly noticing the very tired expression his friend had. Jumin never thought he’d become so close with another business associate, especially not one that his father had mostly acquainted with. He was glad he took up that merger months ago…

Said man sighed, his age very quickly catching up with him. He was closer to Jumin’s father’s age, so that wasn’t a surprising notion in itself- but up until now, he had been imbued with an energy that Jumin aspired to have at such an age. But now, it almost seemed as though all those years of invigorating conversation had caught up to him. 

“I should yes. I might sleep in the office though- I don’t wish to go home…” Aarav looked up at Jumin, his gaze a mix of fear and acceptance of the impending. “Things have gotten worse here, Jumin.”

Aarav went on a tangent then, speaking of the horrors he saw on his traversing to and from work. He spoke of seeing bodies littering the street, from poor to the wealthy. He told stories of the many people snatched off the street for merely coughing or looking a little pale. He admitted to feeling useless as he watched a small boy seize and start foaming from the mouth. 

“I didn’t even call the police, Jumin… I just watched him. After his seizing, I watched him ache to breathe, gnawing on the open air as he died. It was morbid curiosity sure, but I knew that the doctors wouldn’t help. They only made it less painful, and even then, they would have gotten there too late. It happened within two minutes…”

Aarav was threading his fingers into his hair, tears trailing down his cheeks, aging him only further. He looked so broken- and Jumin so desperately wished he could reach out and hug his friend. He even reached out briefly, wistful in expression, but even this gesture couldn’t stop his friend from crying, countries away, time zones apart. 

“Jumin…” His friend lifts his head finally, looking right at him. God- he looked so lost. “He must’ve been barely ten…”

Not even ten- not even ten. Jumin stared down at his wine glass, now appalled by how much it looked like blood. “Allow me, then, to help you- your country too- in any way that I can.”

**Author's Note:**

> Wanna see something else like this? Leave a comment or send a message to my tumblr~ tcohs-messenger  
> Wanna join my discord server? Shoot me a message and I will send you a link!


End file.
